Roman Dirge

Take a quick glance at Roman Dirge's work, his creepy-crawly cartoons, his spooked-out comics, his definitely-not-for-children toys (the warnings on the boxes say "for ages smart enough not to eat large hunks of plastic"), and you might assume that Dirge is a man of dark vision, a sad-eyed, melancholic wonder as endearingly odd as any of his characters. You'd be wrong.

Take a quick glance at Roman Dirge's work, his creepy-crawly cartoons, his spooked-out comics, his definitely-not-for-children toys (the warnings on the boxes say "for ages smart enough not to eat large hunks of plastic"), and you might assume that Dirge is a man of dark vision, a sad-eyed, melancholic wonder as endearingly odd as any of his characters. You'd be wrong.

According to Chinese lore, the monkey king was an impish rebel driven by the maddening conformity of the kingdom of heaven to launch a war on the Jade Emperor. Taking his inspiration from this legend, L.A. filmmaker Patrick Lam has launched a more contemporary revolution against conformity -- this one aimed at the fiefdoms of mainstream art and mass-produced toys. Lam is the owner, inspiration and chief operating imp behind Munky King, one of the city's most unusual toy stores.

MARK TROUP readily admits he's addicted, and not to the usual suspects. The objects that preoccupy his mind, shatter his impulse control and empty his wallet have names like Qees, Trexis and Dunnys. They are created by street artists such as Okkle, Honk and Da TeamBronx. They are known as "designer toys." In the four months since Troup got his first Panda-Z bear, the 37-year-old video game artist has gone thousands of dollars and 100 pieces deep into toy collectibles for adults.